Detroit Free Press Education Writer

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Brown University Provost Mark Schlissel was introduced Friday as the University of Michigan’s 14th president, culminating a private search that regents say centered on finding a respected academic with business acumen and fund-raising experience.

Schlissel will take over as president July 1 to replace Mary Sue Coleman, who is retiring. He’ll inherit a university in the midst of a $4-billion fund-raising campaign and increased attention on keeping costs down to avoid hefty tuition hikes.

Members of the University of Michigan Board of Regents repeatedly praised Schlissel as a perfect fit for Michigan.

“Mark brings an exceptional portfolio of scholarship and leadership to our community,” said Regents Chairwoman Andrea Fischer Newman. “And just as importantly, a tremendous commitment to Michigan’s public ethos. He has a deep passion for both the role of the research university and especially of the role of the public research community.”

Schlissel will have a five-year contract that includes $750,000 annually in base pay and a retention incentive of $100,000 a year, payable at the end of the five years. The contract also gives him regular university benefits and a $20,000-a-year supplemental contribution to a retirement plan. He can live in the president’s house on campus and have a driver.

Schlissel will face a number of challenges as he takes the helm of the university. State aid has continued shrinking over the last decade, which has led to some cuts and unpopular decisions — such as a plan to consolidate a number of business office functions in a central location. The move drew more than 1,200 signatures of protest on a petition earlier this year.

The school also is facing increasing demands for more diversity on campus, a point Schlissel touched on when he spoke during a news conference Friday.

“I will bring to Michigan a fierce commitment to the importance of public research universities, a strong and personal belief in the ability of education to transform lives, and the understanding that academic excellence and diversity are inextricably linked,” Schlissel said. “Although I see Michigan as one of our nation’s strongest research institutions, what lies at its core is the education of talented and diverse students from around the state, nation and world.”

Schlissel graduated from Princeton with a biochemical degree. He holds both a master’s and doctorate from John Hopkins University. He completed a residency in internal medicine and taught for several years at the University of California, Berkeley before moving into administration and becoming the provost at Brown University, an Ivy League school.

Schlissel said his life and career were changed by the opportunity to do biology lab research as an undergraduate at Princeton, crediting the relationship he developed with his faculty mentor.

“I will work hard to find ways to learn how students feel about their Michigan education and to involve them in key decisions that affect their experience here,” he said.

“The regents always believed that we wanted a distinguished scholar to lead the university,” Deitch said. “We believe that scholarly credentials are critical to a president of this great university — one with 99 top 10 departments. We believe that in order to have the moral authority necessary to lead our faculty to even greater heights of renown, our president must command respect for his or her academic achievements, besides having the skills of both a CEO and master salesperson together with the capacity for very hard work.”

While at Brown, Schlissel has worked across several areas, Brown President Christina Paxson said in a statement. Among his successes, she noted: establishing the School of Public Health; expanding the size, breadth and influence of the School of Engineering; forming Brown’s initial strategy for online education, and rethinking the university’s approach to global engagement.

Schlissel also has been integrally involved in space and capital planning efforts, guiding $200 million in investments to bolster the university’s teaching, research and campus life infrastructure, Paxson said.

Regents like that Schlissel had experience at both private and public schools, Deitch said.

“We very much liked the fact that he was a chair and a dean at UC-Berkeley, our distinguished public peer,” said Deitch. “We liked the fact that he was a provost at Brown, a respected Ivy League university with strong humanities and social science departments.”

Last fall, regents held a series of campus meetings on the characteristics they desired for the next president, but board members declined to speak publicly on the search after that. State law allows regents to keep presidential searches secret.

Coleman’s last day is July 31, but her contract says the board can appoint someone before that. She will become president emerita and “perform such duties as are mutually acceptable to the regents and to her.”

Schlissel said he plans to rely on Coleman’s advice and counsel during the transition. He also praised Coleman’s work.